Highly strung atmosphere of the opera lends a strong touch of Dostoevsky.
It is felt in the character of German with his passions and tragedy, his
outsider position among upper class rich people as well as in the role of
Saint-Petersburg in Tchaikovsky’s opera… His Petersburg is practical and morose,
it would not accept strangers. There is no way to conquer it…
Lev Mikhailov

Composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky

Libretto by Modest Tchaikovsky

Stage Director Lev Mikhailov

Set Design Nikolay Zolotaryov

Conductor Felix Korobov, Wolf Gorelik

Genre Opera

Number of
acts 3

Language Russian

Premiere December 25,
1976

Synopsis

ACT I.

St. Petersburg, during the late eighteenth century. Children are at play in a
summer park. Two soldiers — Tsurin and Chekalinsky — enter, the former
complaining about his bad luck at gambling. They remark that another soldier,
Gherman, seems obsessed with the gaming table but never bets, since he is frugal
and methodical. Gherman appears with Tomsky, who says his friend hardly seems
like his old self and asks whether something is bothering him. Gherman admits he
is in love with a girl above his station, whose name he does not even know. When
Prince Yeletsky, an officer, strolls into the park, Chekalinsky congratulates
him on his recent engagement. Yeletsky declares his happiness, while Gherman,
aside, curses him enviously. Yeletsky points out his fiancée, Lisa, who has just
appeared with her grandmother, the old Countess, once known as "the Venus of
Moscow." Catching sight of Gherman, the two women note they have seen him
before, staring at them with frightening intensity. Gherman realizes that Lisa
is his unknown beloved. When Yeletsky and the women leave, Gherman is lost in
thought as the other officers discuss the Countess: now known as "the Queen of
Spades," she succeeded at gambling in her youth by trading her favors for the
winning formula of Count St. Germain in Paris. Tomsky says only two men, one of
them her husband, ever learned her secret, because she was warned by an
apparition to beware a "third suitor" who would try to force it from her. Musing
on the magical three cards, the others lightly suggest that such a combination
would solve Gherman’s problems. Threatened by approaching thunder, all leave
except Gherman, who vows to learn the Countess’s secret.

At home, Lisa plays the spinet as she and her friend Pauline sing a duet
about evening in the countryside. Their girlfriends ask to hear more, so Pauline
launches into a sad ballad, followed by a dancelike song. As the merriment
increases, Lisa remains pensive. A Governess chides the girls for indulging in
unbecoming folk dancing and asks the visitors to leave. Pauline, the last to go,
urges Lisa to cheer up; Lisa replies that after a storm there is a beautiful
night and asks the maid, Masha, not to close the French windows to the balcony.
Alone, Lisa voices her unhappiness with her engagement; she has been stirred by
the romantic gaze of the young man in the park. To her shock, Gherman appears on
the balcony. Claiming he is about to shoot himself over her betrothal to
another, he begs her to take pity on him. When the Countess is heard knocking,
Lisa hides Gherman and opens the door to the old woman, who tells her to shut
the windows and go to bed. After the Countess retires, Lisa asks Gherman to
leave but is betrayed by her feelings and falls into his embrace.

ACT II.

Not long afterward, at a masked ball, Gherman’s comrades comment on his
obsession with the secret of the winning cards. Yeletsky passes with Lisa,
noting her sadness and reassuring her of his love. Gherman receives a note from
Lisa, asking him to meet her later. Tsurin and Chekalinsky sneak up behind him,
muttering that he is the "third suitor" who will learn the Countess’s secret;
they melt into the crowd, as Gherman wonders whether he is hearing things. The
master of ceremonies announces a tableau of shepherdesses. Lisa slips Gherman
the key to her grandmother’s room, saying the old woman will not be there the
next day, but Gherman insists on coming that very night. Thinking fate is
handing him the Countess’s secret, he leaves. The guests’ attention turns to the
imminent arrival of Catherine the Great, for which a polonaise by O. Kozlovsky
(1757–1831) is played and sung in greeting.

Gherman slips into the Countess’s room and looks in fascination at her
portrait as a young woman. Their fates, he feels, are linked: one of them will
die because of the other. He conceals himself as the old lady approaches. The
Countess deplores modern manners and reminisces about her youth, singing an air
from Grétry’s Richard Coeur-de-Lion. As she dozes off, Gherman stands before
her. She awakens in horror as he pleads with her to tell him her secret. When
she remains speechless, he grows desperate and threatens her with a pistol — at
which she dies of fright. Lisa rushes in, only to learn that the lover to whom
she gave her heart was more interested in the Old Countess’s secret than in her.
She orders him out and falls sobbing.

ACT III.

In his room at the barracks, as the winter wind howls, Gherman reads a letter
from Lisa, who wants to meet him at midnight by the river bank. He imagines he
hears the chorus chanting at the Old Countess’s funeral, then is startled by a
knock at the window. The old woman’s ghost appears, announcing that against her
will she must tell him the secret so that he can marry and save Lisa. Dazed,
Gherman repeats the three cards — three, seven, ace. By the Winter Canal, Lisa
waits for Gherman. It is already near midnight, and though she clings to a
forlorn hope that he still loves her, she sees her youth and happiness swallowed
in darkness. At last he appears, but after uttering words of reassurance, he
starts to babble wildly about the Countess and her secret. No longer even
recognizing Lisa, he rushes away. Believing that all is lost, she throws herself
into the icy waters.

At a gambling house, Gherman’s fellow officers are finishing supper and
getting ready to play faro. Yeletsky, who has not gambled before, joins the
group because his engagement has been broken: "unlucky in love, lucky at cards."
Tomsky entertains the others with a song. Then Chekalinsky leads a traditional
gamblers’ song. Settling down to play, they are surprised when Gherman arrives,
wild and distracted. Yeletsky senses a confrontation and asks Tomsky to be his
second if a duel should result. Gherman, intent only on betting, starts with
40,000 rubles. He bets the three and wins, upsetting the others with his
maniacal expression. Next he bets the seven and wins again. At this he takes a
wine glass and declares that life is but a game. Yeletsky accepts his challenge
to bet on the next round. Gherman bets the ace but is confronted by Yeletsky
with the winning card — the queen of spades. Seeing the Countess’s ghost,
Gherman takes his own life, asking Yeletsky’s forgiveness and Lisa’s as well.
The others pray for his tormented soul.